The present invention generally relates to refrigeration units. More particularly, the present invention relates to a food cooling container which is designed in size so as to be portable for placement on counter tops, used for picnics, pot-luck events and the like.
While the refrigerator is an excellent tool for keeping perishable food items fresh, there are certain drawbacks associated with their use. Foremost is the fact that the perishable foods must be kept inside the refrigerator in order to last any period of time. However, items such as fruit and vegetables which are stored in areas of the refrigerator which are not readily seen or frequently accessed can go unnoticed until they begin to spoil. However, placing fruit or vegetables on a kitchen counter, while more easily noticed, severely limits their life span as spoilage occurs at a faster rate. Moreover, such foods are often more desirable when cool. Furthermore, salad greens and vegetables tend to wilt and dry out when stored in conventional vessels.
Similar problems are often encountered while hosting a dinner, or during pot-luck events. Lettuce tends to wilt and cheese dries out when serving such perishables in the traditional manner. Foods containing mayonnaise, eggs, or milk are particularly susceptible to food spoilage even within an hour or two. In restaurants and other places with self-service buffets, tables and counters are often provided with cooling wells in the table or counter top for such food that must be kept cold to preserve its quality. Such cooling wells comprise box-shaped recesses or depressions in a table or counter top with external surrounding cooling tubes or a cooling jacket. However, such commercial cooling wells are often not available to the typical home owner or dinner host. Moreover, such cooling wells and tables are very expensive, occupy a significant amount of space, are not portable and also have disadvantages. For example, even in such restaurant settings, the displayed food will gradually become wilted, dried out or otherwise drab and unappetizing.
Picnics and cookouts are popular recreational pastimes during the summer months. Oftentimes, food is catered, such as to the movie industry, in an outdoor setting as well. A potential hazard for outdoor eating, however, is food spoilage. Such foods are often kept in a picnic cooler up until serving time. However, once people begin to eat, such foods are usually moved from the cooler and placed on the serving table, where it may sit for several hours while people eat, talk, play games, etc. Particularly in the summer months, the food is very susceptible to drying out, wilting and spoilage.
Attempts have been made in the past to overcome these problems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,520,633 relates to a salad bowl having a relatively flat interior partition separating the bowl into an upper food containing receptacle and a lower ice-containing chamber. U.S. Pat. No. 5,345,784 discloses a salad bowl comprising interior and exterior bowls, with a cooling chamber filled with cold water or the like therebetween. However, these devices only serve to keep food cool for a very short period of time. Moreover, these devices do not address the problems associated with wilting and drying of the surface of the food to be served. Moreover, these devices can be messy in that the water can spill from these devices on the serving table as the food is removed from the containers, or they are transported.
Accordingly, there is a continuing need for a food cooling container which overcomes the problems discussed above and takes into account the drawbacks associated with prior devices and systems. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides other related advantages.